Editor & Publisher, Mark Fitzgerald | [...] The study found that just 56% Internet users ranked newspapers as important or very important sources of information for them, down from 60% in 2008 — and below the Internet (78%) and television (68%).
And while newspapers also regard themselves as being in the entertainment business, just 29% of users consider them as important sources of entertainment, down from 32% two years ago, and last among principal media.
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If their newspaper dropped its print edition, Internet users say, 59% said they would read the online edition of the publication while just 37% said they would start reading another print newspaper.
More than a fifth of respondents said they would not miss the printed newspaper.
“The downward spiral in print newspaper circulation no doubt will be accelerated by advances in online delivery of news content through e-readers or other handheld electronic devices,” Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the [USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism's] Center for the Digital Future, said in a statement. “After years of aborted attempts, these advances finally appear to be practical and affordable methods of providing electronic news content to readers. If so, what will that mean for the future of the traditional print newspaper?”… MORE